Financial Jargon and Centrifuge

To achieve the right balance, one needs to consider governance.

Take, for example, the POP process. As currently conceived, the wider Centrifuge community is polled at different points on whether a would-be Issuer should move from one stage to the next. First the community votes on whether the Issuer should do a Pool Party; then on whether it should be assessed; and finally, once the experts finish their assessment and release their report and analysis for community review, the community votes on whether it should launch an asset pool.

“The ultimate vision is to take this governance on-chain, allowing CFG holders to stake towards POPs they wish to see launch on Centrifuge.

That’s democracy.

While experts weigh in at every stage, it is the community at large, including everyday people, that decides the fate of prospective Issuers. While the Issuer onboarding process may be revamped, its essence, whereby the community and CFG token holders have the final say, is unlikely to change. (A future on-chain governance model may introduce vote delegation. Or the community could delegate some decision-making to an expert committee.)

For the community to responsibly and intelligently exercise its voting power it must be informed. Accordingly, it must be able to understand the information that aspiring Issuers publish and air - as well as the input of the experts. Voters must comprehend each Issuer’s business and the issues that pertain to each vote. Financial language must therefore be accessible.

This applies to Centrifuge content generally since the matters that come up for community vote can touch every corner of the ecosystem.

Voters can rely on the opinions of specialists “working on these topics.” But they must not rely blindly. For at the end of the day, they have to make their own decision.

I agree. If you need jargon to describe what you do, yes, it’s justified. But explain it - just once is enough.

This exaggerates the time it takes to explain jargon. It can usually be done quickly and seamlessly in a way that does not interrupt flow. If more elaboration is needed, readers and listeners can be directed by links or show notes to more detailed material, e.g., in-house docs, forum or Medium pieces or videos.

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